Structural assembly



July 22, 1969 L. A. HiNKLE 3,45 2

S TRUCTURAL AS 5 EMBLY Filed Jan. 26, 1968 [Wop/Y5 y S.

United States Patent 3,456,921 STRUCTURAL ASSEMBLY Lloyd A. Hinkle, 216 Piedmont Ave., Piedmont, Mo. 63957 Filed Jan. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 700,961 Int. Cl. E04h 17/22; B21f 27/14 US. Cl. 25622 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A structural assembly for hand rails and inclined balustrades in which the rails and pickets are connected in a flexible manner to allow adaption of the assembly to a variety of inclinations for steps.

This invention pertains to improvements in assembling the rails and pickets of stairway railings and balustrades having the same inclination.

A persistent problem in the manufacture of railings for steps resides in connecting the pickets to the upper and lower rails so that a strong joint results. An important detail in making railings or balustrades is in getting the railing to match the pitch or inclination of the steps. A number of structures have been proposed in which special fittings must be used or the pickets have to be specially cut for each given stairway inclination. The present solutions for the above are expensive and have to be made for each installation.

An important object of this invention is to overcome the problems briefly outlined above in a simple manner with a railing structure that can be adapted to substantially all installations.

It is also an important object of this invention to provide a substantially universally adaptable structural assembly of rails and pickets for stairway railings.

A further object of this invention is to provide a structural assembly for railings that may be preassembled by the manufacturer as an off-the-shelf item and adapted to the stairway inclinations on the job.

A preferred embodiment of this invention includes substantially identically formed longitudinal members for the upper and lower rails and interconnecting pickets. The longitudinal members are channel sections with openings formed therein between the edge flanges, and the pickets are structural elements having the opposite ends bifurcated so that a degree of flexibility is imparted at the ends. The pickets are connected tothe rail members by weldments which take advantage of the flexibility of the picket furcations and yet hold the rigidi'fying character of the weldments so that the flexing in the furcations will be retained in a substantial structural assembly.

The invention also resides in the components which comprise the structural assembly to be described in more detail in connection with the several views of the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a framentary elevational view of a stairway provided with a hand railing of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken at line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken at line 33 in FIG. 2 showing the structural assembly of this invention when adjusted or flexed to the inclination of the stairway of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3, but showing the components prior to being flexed;

FIG. 5 is an end view of a typical weldment as seen at line 55 in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a box picket element having its end bifurcated in the manner of this invention.

3,456,921 Patented July 22, 1969 In FIG. 1 the railing assembly 10 of this invention is seen applied to a stairway 11 having a newel post 12 mounted by a socket bracket 13 on the first tread 14 of the lower step. The railing assembly 10 includes a bottom longitudinal rail 15, a top longitudinal rail 16, a plurality of picket elements 17, and a cap piece :18 on the upper or top rail 16. The bottom and top rails 15 and 16 are rigidly connected to the post 12 so that substantially no movement is permitted between the rails and pickets. The upper end of the rail asesembly 10 is, of course, provided with another post (not shown) which further aids in establishing a rigid railing.

FIGS. 2 to 6 illustrate the several details of the structural assembly of this invention. As can be seen in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, each picket element 17 has a decorative box configuration such as is provided by a square tube so that strength without excess weight is obtained. The respective ends of the element 17 are formed with an axially directed saw cut 20 through two opposite walls of the upper end and a similar saw cut 21 through the same two opposite walls of the bottom end. The upper saw cut 20 forms furcations 20a and 20b, and the lower saw cut 21 forms furcations 21a and 21b. The saw cuts are, of course, made in the same plane as shown.

The lower or bottom rail member is a channel having a web 22 and edge flanges 23 that are directed downwardly. The web 22 has a plurality of spaced openings formed therethrough, one being seen at 24, such opening being elongated in the lengthwise direction of the rail so that it will accommodate a desired degree of angular swing of the picket elements :17 relative to the rail 15. The top rail 16 is also a channel having a web 25 and upwardly directed edge flanges 26. The web 25 is provided with a plurality of spaced openings formed therethrough, one being seen at 27. The openings 24 and 27 are spaced apart and matched as desired to locate the several picket elements in spaced relation and alignment as may be desired.

As may be seen in FIGS. 4 and 5, the bottom and top rails 15 and 16 and pickets 17 are assembled in an initial position at any angular attitude, or in a perpendicular relation if desired. Each picket 17 is placed with its ends in the openings 24 and 27 such that the furcations 20a and 2112 are adjacent an edge 27a and 24a respectively of the openings 27 and 24. Welding material is then deposited between the edge 27a and the picket furcation 20a to form weldment beads 28 and 29. The diagonally opposite furcation 21b is similarly connected to the edge 24a by weldment beads 30 and 31. Each weldment bead is extended widthwise of the rail web so that a substantial joint is formed. Further, the openings 24 and 27 are just wide enough to receive the picket ends with a working fit to accommodate manufacturing tolerances of the pickets, thereby assuring longitudinal alignment of the picket row in the finished railing. Parallelism of the bottom and top rails may be obtained in several ways, one being by matching the lengths of all pickets and using care in locating the furcations 20a and 21b adjacent the respective edges 27a and 24a of the openings 27 and 24. It is important to position each picket with the saw cuts 20 and 21 directed crosswise of the rail lengths.

When the railing components are assembled in the manner shown in FIG. 4, the furcations 20a and 21b are unflexed. However, the assembly does not match the slope of the stairway 11 in that the pickets 17 will not be perpendicular to the treads, as is the case with the newel post 12. Such an assembly can be flexed to suit the stairway slope by racking the rails I15 and 16. This operation is performed by applying forces on the rails 15 and 16 in the respective directions of the arrows A and B in FIG. 4. The same eflect is achieved by holding one rail fixed and applying the force on the other rail in the direction needed to adjust the angle C.

As the racking force is applied the furcations 20a and 21b are flexed due to the cuts 20 and 21 permitting this reaction. Concurrently, the weldments 29 and 31 yield in elongation while the weldments 28 and 30 yield in compression. When assembled as in FIG. 1, the cap piece 18 protectively covers the upwardly opening rail 16 and hides the weldments. The bottom rail 15 usually does not require a cap piece, but one may be used if desired and in such event the cap piece will be substantially like the cap piece 18. After the rail has been flexed to the slope of stairway -11, its ends are secured to the post 12 (and the upper post) by bolted on clips or other means 32 and this renders the railing substantially fixed against further flexing that could alter the angle C.

What is claimed is:

1. In a stairway hand rail assembly having a pair of elongated rail members with openings therein arranged in matching relationship and spaced along the lengths thereof, and picket elements disposed with end portions in the respective openings of said rail members so that each picket element relates an opening in one rail member with an opening in the other rail member: the improvement which includes slots extending inwardly of the opposite ends of each picket element to form furcations, and weldments connecting each said picket element end portions by diagonally opposite furcations to the respective openings of said rail members, the other diagonally opposite furcations of each picket being free to move relative to the openings in said rail members and the weldment at one rail member being on a side of the picket element diagonally opposite the weldment at the other rail member, whereby said slots and weldments permit the rail members to be selectively racked to a predetermined angular relationship of rails and pickets to accommodate a given stairway slope.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said elongated members are channel-shaped with edge flanges directed away from each other and said openings are elongated in the direction of elongation of said members to provide longitudinal and transverse edges between said edge flanges, and said weldments connect said one furcation of each said picket element to a transverse edge of the openings in said members, the other furcation being closely confined between said longitudinal edges.

3. The assembly of claim 2 wherein said weldments are placed within said channel-shaped members and on the exterior thereof.

4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein said weldments constitute pivotal connections by yielding in tension and compression on racking force being applied to said rail members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,796,175 3/1931 Winston 256-22 2,715,513 8/1955 Kools 256-21 2,840,349 6/1958 Raymond 256-21 2,909,361 10/1959 Dotson 256-21 3,202,401 8/1965 Bastia 256-21 3,244,406 4/1966 Garofola 256-21 DENNIS L. TAYLOR, Primary Examiner 

